Should I Allow My Phone Battery Die Before Charging

There are a lot of questions about cell phone batteries. Should you go out your smartphones plugged in overnight? Is it bad for the phone? Bad for your rubber? What'southward the correct matter to practice?

In fact, how much should you charge your phone? When'southward the right time to plug in? Should it go down to cypher every fourth dimension? Upwards to 100%? How practise you become the longest life out of the battery within a smartphone? Does it really matter if you're but going to keep the handset effectually for a couple of years before an upgrade?

The contend goes well across the worry of moderate harm to a device, every bit some people have fears of "overloading" a smartphone bombardment. That worry seems relatively justified, every bit it was only a few years ago that Samsung's Galaxy Note 7s were bursting into flame due to battery problems. But equally nosotros've explained before, unless a device has some serious manufacturing defects as that phone did, the fire-in-your-pocket (or on the nightstand) attribute is unlikely.

The problem is that some of the inquiry and opinions out there are diametrically opposed. Nosotros've narrowed down the correct and wrong things to do as best we tin can. We present to yous the myths and truths of iPhone or Android phone charging, in particular when plugging in overnight.

Charging My iPhone Overnight Volition Overload the Battery: FALSE

The 1 thing all the experts agree upon is that smartphones are smart plenty that they donon let an overload happen. Extra protection chips inside brand sure that tin't happen in a tablet or smartphone or fifty-fifty a laptop. Once the internal lithium-ion battery hits 100% of its capacity, charging stops. If y'all leave the smartphone plugged in overnight, information technology is going to utilise a flake of energy constantly trickling new juice to the battery every time it falls to 99%. That is eating into your phone's lifespan (see below).

The Best Thing to Exercise:

Don't worry near this as well much. Plug the phone in or place it on the wireless charger when you go to sleep. If you wake upwardly in the night, unplug it or motion it to prevent constant trickle-charging. Or plug your phone into a smart plug that's on a schedule to turn off.

Potential problems that could be encountered while charging overnight:

Is It Hot in Hither?

Trickle charges can generate some heat. Many experts recommend taking a phone out of the case to accuse overnight. But that'due south not always feasible with a complicated protective example.

At the very least, practise Non stack a bunch of crap like books or other devices on peak of a charging device. And for the dearest of Jobs, exercise not put it under your pillow. Practise any of the above, and you can expect the phone to get hot—not necessarily enough for spontaneous combustion, merely enough to harm the battery (run across below).

(Photograph: Shutterstock/spyarm)

If you are agape of burn, some in the U.k. recommend leaving the charging device on a dish or saucer(Opens in a new window) while plugged in, or putting information technology on something metal that is more likely to dissipate heat, the way a heatsink does on the chips inside a PC. That's not much of an option if yous use a wireless charging pad, so don't sweat it.

Bad Cables

If yous're using a knock-off cable that isn't from the manufacturer, or at least "certified" in some manner (iPhone Lightning cables should be MFi certified(Opens in a new window), for case), it could be a problem. The string and connectors may non exist up to the necessary specifications for the phone or tablet. Don't skimp past ownership chintzy cables.

I Should Freeze My Phone to Prevent Battery Problems: FALSE

Lithium-ion batteries hate two things: extreme cold and extreme oestrus. With common cold, repeatedly charging a smartphone in sub-freezing temps can create a permanent plating of metallic lithium on the battery anode, according to BatteryUniversity(Opens in a new window). You lot can't prepare that problem; doing it too much is only going to kill the bombardment faster.

(Photo: iStock/sankai )

The battery is not alone in hating heat: all the internals of any smartphone dislike warmth. Information technology'due south a figurer in there, and computers and hot air are mortal enemies going back decades. Leave your black-screened smartphone sitting in the sun as yous laze by the pool someday, and don't exist surprised when it throws a alarm that it needs to cool off. In that example, put information technology under the towel. In the summer, keep it off the dash of the car, preferably in the shade.

Apple specifically says charging iPhones over 95 degrees F (35 degrees C) will practise permanent damage to the battery; await the same with any mod smartphone.

The Best Thing to NEVER Do:

Don't accuse a phone when it's too common cold or hot. And don't put your phone in the freezer.

My Battery Should Ever Drop to Zip Earlier Charging: FALSE

Running a smartphone until it's dead—a full discharge—every fourth dimension isnon the way to get with modernistic lithium-ion batteries. Don't even let it get that close to 0%. That wears out a lithium-ion bombardment even faster than normal.Partial discharge is the manner to become.

(Photo: GettyImages- Priscila Zambotto)

Batteries are on borrowed time from the start. The insides are in a constant state of disuse that tin't be helped. Over time, the materials inside are simply going to agree less and less power. If you've got an older iPhone withal in use and wonder why it'south only got a accuse for a few hours compared to the almost full twenty-four hour period (or two) yous got when it was new, that's why. Capacity diminishes over time.

Only become out of your way to drain a smartphone battery to zero to recalibrate(Opens in a new window) the internal sensor that displays your phone's bombardment level. It's hardly guaranteed—in fact, many people don't retrieve it works at all(Opens in a new window)—but information technology's recommended past some, especially if you lot've got a phone that hits ten% (or even 20% or xxx%), then abruptly dies.

Even if you do use the phone all the way to auto-shutdown, that may non mean the battery is really at 0%. Go out the phone alone for a few hours, if you believe this is worth doing. Then give it a reset for expert measure.

The Best Thing to Do:

Plug the phone in before it asks yous to enter a low-ability fashion(Opens in a new window); iOS will ask you to plough that on when yous hitting 20% power. Plug it in when the telephone is between thirty-40%. Phones will get to 80% quickly if you're doing a fast charge. Pull the plug at 80-xc%, as going to full 100% when using a high-voltage charger tin put some strain on the battery. Go on the telephone battery charge between 30-80% to increase its lifespan.

Apple tree claims that with fast charging the iPhone, batteries tin can increase l% in only 30 minutes. That requires a USB-C ability adapter, which in turn ways owning a special USB-C-to-Lightning cable(Opens in a new window), or using a higher voltage charger like the 1 from an iPad or fifty-fifty a MacBook.

My Battery Develops a 'Retentiveness': Faux

Developing a "memory" was a trouble with older nickel-cadmium (NiCad) batteries(Opens in a new window). That's where the whole "belch the battery entirely" thing came from. As we said, it'south non necessary with lithium-ion batteries.

So why practise lithium-ion batteries not seem to last as long as they age? Information technology's not about "retention," it'due south virtuallycapacity. Your smartphone bombardment over its lifetime degrades enough that in the same amount of fourth dimension charging, a new phone could hit a total charge, while an older phone might only get to around 82%. BatteryUniversity(Opens in a new window)calls it "old man syndrome."

(Image: Shutterstock/Jirsak)

Another manner to look at it is that newer batteries are just hungrier to suck up all that power.

Apple claims that "Apple tree lithium-ion batteries are designed to hold at least 80% of their original capacity for a loftier number of charge cycles," merely it admits that the amount differs from product to production.

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Apple tree iPhone batteries also support "fast charging," so they'll get to 80% pretty quickly. After fourscore, you'll see the chapters increase slowly, some of which is to prevent heat buildup—which extends bombardment life. Only estimate what? Fast charging isn't great for a lithium-ion battery, either. It corrodes even faster(Opens in a new window).

Older iPhones came with a 5-watt (that's 5 volts at i.1 amps) charger cake. It works, but of grade, you can charge faster with a 10W charger, which has an output of 5 volts at 2.1amps—that's the kind of charger that comes with an iPad. If you stick to the Qi-based wireless charging, keep in listen that most support vii.5W, with wireless fast charging now available.

The All-time Affair to Exercise:

Stop worrying virtually "retentiveness." If you are going to charge overnight, don't fast accuse. Use a slow charge. That means your charger should exist lower voltage.

Phone Batteries Only Last a Few Years: Fake-ish

Phone batteries measure out their lifespan in "charge cycles." That means every time you lot discharge up 100% of the capacity, it's 1 cycle count, only it doesn't mean you went all the mode to naught.

For example, if your phone is at 80%, you lot go down to 30% (that'south half the bombardment capacity), and you charge it dorsum to lxxx and use that fifty% up once again, that's one wheel. Yous could use 75% ane mean solar day, 25% the adjacent, again, that's one cycle. Await iPhones to have a lifespan of 400 to 500 charge cycles (but once more, not necessarily 400 to 500 times the telephone is actually plugged in to accuse.)

If the phone's capacity has eroded enough, y'all may take to do that 50%-accuse-and-employ a couple of times a solar day—and that'due south when the bombardment lifespan goes downhill fifty-fifty faster. Here's Apple's graphic(Opens in a new window) trying to explain it:

(Image: Apple tree)

While your phone battery doesn't have a "memory" that makes the chapters worse and worse, that limited lifespan means you may desire to bandy in a new bombardment.

Dorsum in 2017, Apple admitted to secretly slowing down batteries on older iPhones in the proper noun of "overall operation and prolonging the life of...devices." After an uproar, Apple offered bombardment replacements for these phones at a disbelieve for a while. With "Right to Repair" becoming a bigger deal, in 2022 Apple launched a self-service repair store option that includes battery change options.

You tin effort it, but bombardment replacements are generally best done by a professional person. Few new smartphones accept a truly user-swappable battery. Opening up the guts of your smartphone, even if it doesn't void the warranty, isn't for the faint of eye.

Why are at that place almost no smartphones with swappable batteries? Most lithium-ion batteries perform finer for effectually two to three years, and that'southward when the manufacturers would prefer you upgrade to a new phone. Why bother making information technology piece of cake to bandy a battery? Now that the average smartphone user in the US keeps a phone for a while—one survey (Opens in a new window)showed 26% only update phones every two years, a further 28% wait three years, and a quarter even await iv years—there's far less incentive for phone makers to help you keep information technology running. The phone makers aren't exactly fans of correct-to-repair options.

The Takeaway Here:

If y'all plan to swap phones every year or two, charge information technology whatever way you desire, as often equally you want, and don't worry about the diminished capacity. Still, if y'all want to stretch things out, use best practices for lithium-Ion batteries as described above. It may help. Or, just get a new battery installed every couple of years. It's much cheaper than a make new phone.

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